Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

We have had a fire raging in the kitchen of the economy for the last two years, but we have turned the corner. There is now the prospect of recovery. We have done a crash course in competitiveness which is the envy of other countries. No other country in Europe could have withstood socially the reductions we saw in public service wages and salaries. There were were huge reductions of between 12% and 35%. Interestingly, the average reduction of 12% reduction is equal to what the best economists say was the differential between public and private sector workers.